Bill Russell

Bill Russell

How many blocks had Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell got in average when they were in their pride?

I know there were no official stats on blocks and steals in early 50's and 60's NBA , just give your own guess

Both Official Scorers and Sportswriters would frequently count the number of blocks that Chamberlain and Russell had during their games, for reporting purposes, even though the NBA did not officially recognize blocked shots as an official stat until the 1973-74 season (the year after Wilt retired).

Estimates vary... a number of players and writers said that Wilt actually blocked more shots than Russell because Wilt would go after almost everything, while Russell would pick his spots. Wilt liked the spectacle of knocking a shot into the bleachers, while Russell would often let his man get off shots during most of the game, and then "decide" to block those same shots in the 4th quarter.

In his first NBA game, vs. the Knicks, Wilt scored 43 points, had 28 rebounds, and according to press reports, blocked 17 shots.

Referees who officiated a lot of Chamberlain's and Russell's games said that both of them probably averaged at least 6-8 blocks per game over their careers, which would put both of them ahead of the "official" all time leaders by a comfortable margin.

Six blocks a game is certainly reasonable, given hundreds of press reports on their games during their careers that address that very topic. Six would be a good minimum estimate. I'm sure there were streaks when they'd average 10-12 per game for a while, I just don't know that they did that for their entire careers, as some have suggested, including many people who followed their careers.

Plus, after a while, opponents would avoid the Chamberlain/Russell patrolled areas near the basket precisely because of the shot-blocking threat . Such evasive maneuvers can often limit the number of shots they actually blocked during certain stretches of their games.

Eight to ten would not be unreasonable. One other reason I say that is because both of these guys were on the court all the time... Wilt averaged 46 min/game over his entire career, while Russell averaged 42 min/game (about 44 to 45 in his prime). So Wilt would only sit out about 1 minute in each half, while Russell would sit about 2 minutes per half. They were out there ALL THE TIME. So 3-4 blocks per half... not unreasonable at all.